“I know my life has been shortened, but I know I have to live what I have the best I can.”

Sarah Peach and her husband John are enjoying the weather in the garden of their home off Debdale Lane. A fountain trickles in the background.

The couple’s 11-year-old son, Jason, goes for a bike ride. Their younger son, five-year-old Daniel, comes to the back door, and asks what food can he have.

Sarah tells John she’s going upstairs to sleep and that she’ll be back soon. And with that, she is gone indoors.

Sarah needs to sleep. She has a brain tumour. It’s terminal.

Her tiredness comes from a mixture of feeling tired from her illness and feeling the impact of a gruelling six-week programme of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Not that long ago, she told her husband she had a slight headache. It was dismissed as one of those things – she had no underlying health issues.

Then, at the beginning of February, she came home from doing the school run and shouted to her husband. He thought she was having a stroke, so called 999.

Tests showed there was a lesion on her brain. She underwent an operation at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and shortly after was told she had grade four glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer which cannot be cured.

“I broke down,” said Sarah. “I know my life has been shortened, but I know I have to live what I have the best I can.”

John said: “I was hoping it was not as bad as we thought, but it was a shock. I had to move into another gear to support her. It was one of the worst days of our lives.”

Protective

The couple discussed whether or not to tell their boys, both of whom are autistic, and they consulted experts.

Sarah said: “We told them and now Jason is very protective of me, although Daniel is too little to understand it fully.”

John added: “Sarah is a lovely mum to the boys, and if I had to rate her out of 10, I’d say she was a 10-plus.”

John and Sarah met when John called into a garage to talk to a friend and Sarah was there talking to one of her friends.

Despite the age difference – John is now 56 and Sarah 33 – they hit it off and got married in Jamaica about 11 years ago.

“It was the happiest day,” said John. “She looked stunning. Now, I don’t know how long she has left, so we make every day count.”

While the cancer cannot be treated, there are treatments in America which could prolong her life.

A friend of the family has set up an online fundraising page to help raise funds that could help the family to make memories, but also could pay for that specialist treatment.

Jessica Woof writes: “I'm wanting to raise this money for Sarah and her family as I know she's been looking at alternative treatments and her wishes are to make as many memories as possible with her family.

“As Sarah is very aware the people with this condition have only lived 12 to 18 months with only 5 per cent of people living past this time.”

The fundraising page can be accessed at gofundme.com/f/glioblastoma-grade-iv-brain-tumor